Xenomata

The hero of another Fodlan from Fire Emblem: Three Hopes has an oppressive offensive that may leave any attempts to tank her assault... not end well, shall we say. Asura Blades are a dual-phase Brave weapon that grant Spd +5, neutralize Shez's penalties during combat, and also a Flashing Blade effect for good measure. Swift Slice only need Shez to initiate combat or be within 2 spaces of an ally to trigger All Stats +8 and grant Shez "Effective against all weapon types" if she is faster than her foes (with the Spd-check differing depending on if the enemy is a human infantry or not.) She also has the new Seal Spd 4 skill to help ensure she outspeed the opponent, with Atk/Spd Oath 4 adding on even more Atk and Spd along with giving her a Guidance effect. On Abyssal, all of Shez's Spd comparisons WILL be swayed to her favor with the Phantom Spd sacred seal treating her Spd as if it were 10 higher. Glimmer is a simple but deadly special in the hands of Shez. A good offensive is a good offensive, so take down the one blessed by Arval!

Speaking as someone who put a bit of investment behind Gordin... eh, it's nice I suppose, but I prefer the original art a bit more. The Resplendent stats mostly only offers an extra 4 damage and maaaaaaybe like 1 extra Bonfire trigger damage. He's already fallen off in usage very heavily even before Whitecap Bow was a thing, so unfortunately there's just not a lot of good behind me getting this Resplendent... actually it'll mostly just be a side effect of getting Resplendent Lucina's outfit.

So... I guess being a fast Brave unit is gonna be Shez's "thing." I almost feel like Shez's permanent effective damage conditions were swapped just to make sure it doesn't actually become permanent effective damage. Non-Dragon and non-Beast infantry units historically have been pretty fast, while almost all other unit types, especially dragons and some beasts, have shafted their Spd in favor of higher defenses. So Shez shouldn't even have any problem having permanent effective damage unless she's up against one of those demihuman infantry units... but then again, units have been getting faster lately. I feel like this is the first time in a while that every single unit featured is a winner in some way. Even the obligatory Freebie unit's appearance is hard to argue against.

Summer Mia would be the one unit who is a guaranteed Yes, since she is a Harmonic unit who gets used in the Resonant Battles, and the Mia I currently have I don't like using because she's so meh when I do use her (the only "good" skill she has is her default Swift Sparrow 3, and she's never fast enough to deal enough damage to most of the boosted enemies) Kronya is a guaranteed No because her whole gimmick I don't feel that comfortable trying to take advantage of. In fact now I'm wondering why I even considered her in the first place... All of the others are a bit more iffy. Sigurd, Edelgard, and Ephraim all have skills which I think would be nice to grab, while Lyon just looks good thanks to the Arcane weapon. Micaiah and Camus can probably also be skipped over. The only problem with them otherwise is that because I prefer to use units with high merge counts (to justify giving them all the merges), they are far more likely to not see much use outside of Arena Assault, a mode I haven't done in many months. So... Summer Mia seems the most likely to give the most return for my buck.

Not quite sure if the Binding Realms forma soul thing is worth it... I can afford it, but I just don't know if it's worth actually getting. Here's the units that seem most "worth it" that I managed to roll while the event was active. All of them I have at least one copy of with at least a few merges. It'd mostly be the skills, merge levels, and free Dragonflowers I'd be going after.

Woulda been funny if he demanded a bag specifically from Winter Chrom. Since... y'know, Sack o' Gifts? It's an axe? Alright I'll leave now...

Out of both curiosity and need of ideas, how do you guys use your trait fruits these days? There's plenty of newer units these days who don't need to have their traits be a specific way, but at the same time it seems like any time I summon one of these newer units they're almost always of specifically the asset/flaw combo that helps the least (my recent pulling of +Res -Spd Winter Cordelia/Selena pops to mind immediately), but then there's also the Grail units who I like and want to use, but who don't have any possibility of being able to get any asset/flaw other than neutral. There are also Forma units who not only come Neutral by default, but who also completely overwrite an existing units asset/flaw if one existed. As of typing I have close to 500 trait fruits out of just not knowing how I should be using them, so maybe a little bit of advise can go some ways in figuring out how to use them...

Only took 30 total pulls to get +Res -Spd Christmas Cordelia/Severa. Within those 29 other pulls were Ascended Eir, Ascended Hilda (who I didn't have before now), and Ascended Ishtar. You will note 2 of those units are not Blue. I... guess I can do 10 more pulls to get a sparkable unit, but I'm sure as hell not sending another dime on such. That might lead to the mistaken belief that I want more 3H christmas units...

Tempest Trials rewards this time are Spur Spd/Def, Green Tome Armor Bruno: Masked Reveler, and Guard. Peppy Cane+ is an Atk/Res targeting version of Annette's bow.

Christmastime is usually the time of Armors and... apparently Three Houses Bow Armors... so it seems somewhat silly to see them drop any illusion of otherwise and just make one of the armor units an actual dude in armor. BK also brings Special Fighter 4 with him, which adds on a [Deep Wounds] dampener and Noontime effect to the existing skill, on top of slightly more lenient trigger requirements. Not a humongous upgrade, but it is still a Tier 4 Special Fighter. I'm just glad it doesn't also have a Tempo effect... Three Houses have officially overstayed their welcome. I can't be bothered to care about even more of the pests getting in... So they powercrept Wedding Catria/Thea's support effect by making it pretty much guaranteed to trigger? Cool cool... There really isn't any getting around it, Christmas Cordelia/Selena are just better Lance versions of Wedding Catria/Thea. And we also got Bruno being a Green Tome probably-armor. Because that's what we need, more armor units. Yeah... I'm not enthused by this years offerings. I'll pull just enough to get Cordelia and call it there.

I... totally forgot to post this a while ago. Oops... Brave Marth, Muspell, and Faye are how I usually get through a week of Light/Dark Aether Raids. Nina is how I get through life these days.

That... isn't even close to the point I was making. Lucina's support effects aren't that great anymore.

First of all, I think you need a wristband to snap whenever you think about Flayn/Elimine damage reduction. Second, Lucina is still only providing all stat +3 and a Breath effect. A recent example of Legendary Eliwood provides +6 Atk/Spd/Def bonus (not counting the +6 Res he gives from Rally+,) Bonus Doubler, Null Panic, and Canto 1 to the ally with the highest Atk with the condition of having a Dragon or Beast ally present, none of which can be nullified by Feud once it's been granted. Recent Refreshers come with more than a few extra effects on using their refreshing skill too. At the time Lucina was pretty good as a support unit, but these days it's pretty dang easy to make a case for... just about anyone else.

It's a shame that Lucina is almost purely a support unit with only dragon-effective damage, because there probably won't be many other times where you'd get to see such amazing artwork. ...then again I don't think Lucina's brand of support is all that strong anymore... +3 all stat and a Breath effect to physical-damaging allies nearby just sounds weak...

That's a fair point I suppose, especially considering how Ascended Heroes are still the only way to get the fruit thingies. Aren't the Emblems just spiritual projections of the heroes they represent? Sort of like the Mirages in TMS#FE minus the part where they look cool?

In the midst of a new war, here are some weapons that may help you sway the battle your way. Note that Ephraim's refine gets the Even Tempest effect. Odd Tempest also exists. You can effectively give him a permanent Movement +1 if you inherit the Odd Tempest skill to him, which frankly I don't know why I never see the Tempest skills on him before this update. Remember that [Exposure], previously only found on Summer Thorr, forces the inflicted target to take 10 damage from all attacks. I believe the hip kids call this "True Damage?"

Kiran being a chick magnet, have they maybe considered toning down the freebie hero's "sexiness" just a little bit? Seithr is now weaponizing the Bonus Unit effect from Aether Raids. That's more than a little rude... The enemy units all seem to have an exclusive accessory covering their face. Fates units time. No Ascended Hero, so I guess we're done with them for Book 7. Caeldori joins and I don't know what to feel about that. Her weapon's calculation is kind of confusing to me, but I guess she just wants her stats to not be that much higher than her enemies? Kiragi is one of two demote units, and he brings the Unbound Bow with him. Maybe he'll finally make Swift Sparrow available far easier than it already has been? Dwyer, the other demote, has the Aid staff, serving as the alternative to Scion Nanna's Staff of the Twelve. He's also bringing Spd Tactics and an AR skill with him. Ah yes, Hans. Can't wait to totally ignore him. Oh no, Ophelia is succumbing to the evils of the Arcane weapon! ...which basically means now I have to summon for her! She's also bringing with her Special Spiral 4, adding the Damage Reduction ignorance trait to all special triggers of whoever has this skill and adding +5 damage to said special triggers. It's basically the same effect on Young Innes's weapon. That's... rude. Arcane Eclipse has a built-in Quickened Pulse effect on top of the Slaying, stat boost, guaranteed follow-up, and... neutralizing Atk penalties? That last one feels a little weak compared to what other Arcane Weapons have gotten. Otherworld Bonds... ah frick, now virtually ANY unit can be a Forma unit. Wonder if it can be used on the Askr trio? This is also going to seriously uproot the units we make our castle reps. Some units will just naturally be more valuable than others, especially if they hold valuable skills. Someone like my Nina could easily become a valuable asset to someone else. And from the footage presented, we're even allowed to pick units who have Arcane Weapons equipped. And for the last big addition, once per week we will all be able to make 1 free summon of a 4* Special Hero. That's certainly going to shoot Arena participation up a notch.

Two Duo units being refined this Christmas month, plus 2 regular refines and 1 grail refine. No demote units this time, though you may be forgiven for thinking Hubert was a demote... Retainer's Report is a new weapon for Red Tome Infantry Hubert: Sinister Servant Oracle's Breath for Red Manakete Infantry Nah: Little Miss Reginleif for Lance Infantry Ephraim w/Lyon: Dynastic Duo Tanngrisnir for Colorless Bow Armor Marth w/Elice: Royal Altean Duo Athame for grail Colorless Dagger Infantry Kronya: Gleaming Blade

The original villain of Fire Emblem Heroes, and the goddess for which the original villainous kingdom borrows its name from, have teamed up in this Bound Hero Battle. Both are powerful and fast, and have different ways of oppressing you that can spell a swift doom. Veronica's Enclosing Dark grants her additional effects if there are allies near her target. All it takes is two allies nearby to completely shut down your counterattacks entirely. Even without that though, she can still initiate her follow-up immediately to trigger her Enclosure special (with a cooldown of 1 after the Slaying effect on her weapon), boosting damage by 25% of her Atk and bypassing all non-special Damage Reduction. She is also immune to Guard effects. Between her weapon, Atk/Spd Catch 4, and Spd/Res Far Trace, Veronica is looking at an effective +18 Atk and Spd assuming her target has no nearby allies, making it far harder to outspeed her, while the new Panic Smoke 4 (which fun fact takes after the effect of her original Prf Tome back when she was still an enemy) utterly cripples her adversaries if she survives combat. On Abyssal, the Chill Spd/Res sacred seal debuffs the target with the highest Spd+Res total. Embla's punishes her target if anyone dares be within 3 columns or rows of her. Enclosing Claw debuffs her enemy based on the number of foes, inflicts NFU and Guard if there's at least 2, and still grants her a base +5 to all stats and the Slaying effect. Her C passive, Severance, inflicts two new debuffs: [Undefended] stops Savior effects from triggering, and [Feud] blocks out any skills from the afflicted units allies. She will also neutralize any penalties and gain the [Dodge] buff at the same time. Draconic Aura adds 30% of her Atk as special damage. Atk/Spd Clash 4 boosts said stats if her or the enemy has moved spaces before attacking, and neutralizes penalties on herself if the spaces moved was greater than 2. The new Beast Agility skill ensures that Embla will always transform (making the Movement +1 buff common to all Beast Fliers permanent) and ensures her follow-up if she is faster than her target. On Abyssal, the Swift Sparrow seal will make sure she is faster than her target. Expect a tough battle: both are too powerful to withstand an assault from either one for too long, and the Emblians under their command are no slouch either. [abyssal map here]

Well... Dragalia Lost is on its final day. I just completed the entire story, after not playing for about a year. ...what a sad feeling. Been playing since the beginning. It was such a good game, the characters were very all-around good, the dragons usually looks awesome/cute/cool/all of the above, the music was stellar (I very frequently listen to various tracks featured in the game), the story was good, it offered something of a challenge, hell the only reason why I stopped playing this game I probably like more than FEH for a year is just because of burnout trying to juggle so many games... and yet here we are, the final day of service. Completing the story gave me enough free gems for one last set of summons... I can at least say I'm bidding farwell to this game in a familiar manor: summoning dupes of old 5* dragons that I don't need any more of.

I hope you mean adding the "removes beast transformation restrictions" effect to Freya, because Freya's Prf skill belongs in the same B slot that Beast Agility occupies. And while it's just a fancier Lull skill right now, it still provides benefits to Freya that she otherwise wouldn't have, and most definitely will provide amazing effects post-remix.

Veronica gets the offensive halves of Tempo and NFU, a Sweep effect if two of the targets allies are nearby, and a special that is a weaker Draconic Aura with faster charge and ignoring non-special damage reduction. The slaying effect means she only has a 1-charge special, and the Sweep effect means she can get it off almost guaranteed (assuming she outspeeds). Panic Smoke 4 grants the ability to give allies the Foe Penalty Doubler effect. That can hurt, especially as penalties get easier to inflict with every other unit introduced or refined/remixed. Embla's weapon isn't new, but Severence is. A way to disable the Savior effect is pretty rude. OmniFeud is rude as well. Beast Agility honestly doesn't seem that impressive. The effect it enables is different for each Move type (either +7 special damage and unit!Tempo for new Infantry or Special Damage +10 for older ones, Distant Counter for armors, Impact effect on Cavs, and Movement +1 for fliers) and that in and of itself can determine how worth it the skill will be (some units don't particularly NEED the effects that badly, and the only two Armors we got are about as fast as a snail) The fact it reads off Spd comparisons immediately limits the units who can use it to only the ones who even have worth a damn Spd. The fact Embla already comes with it is neat for herself of course, but I can't imagine too many units who would be frothing at the mouth for this particular version of the skill. Maybe once more variants are brought out. Seems silly to wonder if any color other than Red is worth pulling off of, but I guess your opinion will vary.

+Res would allow for slightly better magic tanking, whereas with merges Neutral provides +1 HP/Atk/Res. Ganglot doesn't necessarily have any effects that she needs Res for, though it does help her try and break down Dragon Wall effect. Just remember that as a Rearmed Hero, Ganglot can be used for SI and be kept, meaning one hero can get her skills and you can still get a merge, so don't immediately merge or manual her unless you have no reason to inherit any of Arcane Downfall, Distant Stance, Quick Riposte 4, or Joint Distant Guard... which I highly doubt you don't have a reason for any of them.

I managed to get a copy of Ganglot within the 5 sessions with free summons. She was even the free summon at that! ...er... it now occurs to me I don't know what to do with this thing...

That's about all the merit anyone left in Archanea has though. The only characters I can observe having any merit OUTSIDE of that while still being "interesting" are Wendell (Merric's teacher), Arlan (other magic student), Gotoh, and maaaaaybe Samuel, and even he's still reliant on Navarre. And what kind of sad, sad banner would that be, 2 old men, a power-hungry mage, and some Navarre ripoff.